


3KK: Noche Buena (Clara II)

by crumbcake



Series: Three Kids Klance [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Other, dual reproductive system omega
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 19:43:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17250218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crumbcake/pseuds/crumbcake
Summary: Keith was in the backyard. Lance had kicked him out of thehouse. Rude. (Witness grown up Keith and Lance parenting and Keith contending with his daughter, Clara, during the holidays in a futuristic AU Cuba.)





	3KK: Noche Buena (Clara II)

**Author's Note:**

> Between trying to get things ready for my own Christmas celebrations and all the holiday stuff, I was frantically writing, hoping to get this out before the end of year (2018). I wanted to give you, my wonderful readers, particularly the commentators, and even MORE particularly my regular commentators, an indulgent slice of life read to dig your teeth into for this AU. You guys bring me joy which I am so thankful for. So THANK YOU. :) Happy New Year! 
> 
> Also, please forgive the roughness, I might edit later. I just wanted to get this out today. [Brackets mean spoken in Spanish] :)
> 
> And finally a warning: This is an AU but it has final season spoilers, if you blink and there's explicit sex in here too.

 

 

It was still dark outside when Keith woke up at his usual time despite it being a holiday. He smiled to himself as he nuzzled the nape of his alpha’s neck and squeezed him tightly around the waist, getting no response whatsoever. Lance was completely out as he had stayed up late the night before, pre-preparing food for Christmas Eve. The day was going to be a good one filled with good food and plenty of family time.

 

Keith pulled the sheets down, exposing Lance’s crumpled tank top and boxers, and wiggled his fingers over the bit of skin exposed at his waist.

 

“Lance.”

 

Nothing.

 

Keith got up on his knees and dumped himself halfway over Lance, checking the time on his phone. “Lance, wake up.”

 

At last, signs of life. “No.” Lance groaned.  

 

He shook him by his shoulder. “You said to wake you up at 4:30.”

 

“Go away.”

 

Keith bodily rolled Lance onto his back and straddled him. His alpha’s hair was a disheveled mess. Keith swept his bangs away from his forehead smirking as he thought back to Saul brushing Lance’s hair back into hair-clips  (aka scraping his scalp off with brush bristles) when he was pretending to be a barber.

 

“Lance.”

 

Lance sighed, blindly groping for his phone and waving at an access point instead, causing a bright screen to project between them, nearly blinding them both. He squinted at the screen.

 

“Ugh. Keith, it’s four!” He said in disgust as he slapped the screen into oblivion.

 

“This was your 30 minute warning.”

 

Lance’s response was to shove a pillow over his head and push Keith off him as he rolled to his side.

 

“Lance.” Keith laughed.

 

“Go away.”

 

Keith threw himself on top of him again and got tossed off the bed for his troubles. He sat up, smirking to himself. Maybe he’ll give him a break since he was going to spend the day cooking. Keith got up and got ready for the day, throwing on a t-shirt and shorts then making his way to the kitchen/dining room area.

 

He pushed open the folding french doors, stepping into the dining room side from the living room entrance. The room comprised of a half vaulted roof with exposed beams painted in white. The shorter wall was made up of floor to ceiling windows, hung in front of the windows were framed panels containing dark brown cane fibers weaved in the same beehive pattern as old fashioned wooden rocking chairs. There was a door among the windows that led out to the spacious backyard and a paver path outside that led to the front of the house.

 

Back inside, the taller wall was covered in heavily distressed turquoise wallpaper that exposed the concrete block walls they were hung on. This was a style done purposely when, long ago, the dilapidated look was borne out of necessity in Cuba. Keith made his way across the tiled floor and into the kitchen where he eyed the backsplash made up of multicolored brown and blue slate which was in a ‘herringbone’ pattern according to Lance and his sister.

 

He knew nothing about home decorating but Lance made it a point to make their home look absolutely nothing like the sparse bunkers or grey walls of the castle. He probably would’ve chosen the alliance planet they had lived on solely on the colorful mosaic stones that were everywhere.

 

Something else that was everywhere were the pressure cookers. Keith raised an eyebrow - Lance had like five pressure cookers out on the counters and stock pots ready on the stove. When did he get so many?? He moved them out of the way to get the coffee-grounds-filled moka pot going on a burner.

 

Keith smacked a button by the windows causing the panels to slide together, exposing the windows and nighttime darkness. He sat on one of the counter stools, stretching his legs out and grinning to himself when he heard the pipes running meaning Lance was up and showering.

 

His alpha popped in via the kitchen archway just in time for the brewed coffee. Lance tossed a bag of Cuban bread on the counter, grumpily.

 

“You suck. I couldn’t go back to sleep.”

 

Keith grinned as he poured coffee in mugs for himself and Lance. “You wanted to start cooking by five, right?”

 

Lance simply grunted as he cut up the bread for some toast.

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

“Here’s what we’re doing-” Lance said as he shoved some bread into the toaster.

 

Keith raised his eyebrows in amusement as he waited patiently for the rest of that thought.

 

Lance threw a tub of butter on the counter and took a big gulp of coffee seeming to lose some of his crabbiness as the caffeine took effect. He stared at Keith. “I’m preparing food and you’re helping out by _not_ asking how you can help and by generally staying _out_ of the kitchen.”

 

Keith tried not to smirk. Half the fun of the holidays was bothering Lance as he cooked. The other half was consuming ingredients while he wasn’t looking.

 

Keith opened the fridge and pulled out some leftover eggplant stew, swiping the plate through a reheater panel. “Uh huh. Sure.”

 

“I’m very serious.”

 

Clara wandered in.

 

“Is that our daughter??” Lance asked.

 

Keith glanced up then back down at his food, sidling up next to Lance and stealing a slice of toast before he ruined it with butter.

 

“No, we’re hallucinating. She wouldn’t be up at five am.”

 

“Har har.” She wrinkled her nose at the smell of eggplant stew as she went by for some coffee. “Ay ma, that is so gross.”

 

Keith shrugged. “It’s delicious. What are you doing up?”

 

He caught some of her pheromone scent as she scooted past to sit at the counter stool. She smelled somewhat stressed or anxious which made him look at her a little more probingly, noticing rings under her eyes. Had she been crying?

 

“[What, can’t I just be up?]”

 

“No.” They both replied.

 

She made a face. “I fell asleep early.”

 

“Impostor. What did you do with Clara?” Lance replied immediately.

 

“[Very funny. I’m laughing on the inside.]” She said as she took some toast off the plate Lance offered.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Lance looked up at Keith’s question, frowning as he too noticed that something was amiss.

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“[You sure?]”

 

She smiled at Lance. “Yup.” She then poked at her coffee cup. “Um. Do you guys need anything? Do you want some help, papi?”

 

They both stopped chewing and stared at their daughter.

 

“No, thanks.” Lance said.

 

“Clara, what did you do?” Keith asked, afraid of the answer.

 

She frowned. “Why did I have to do anything? I’m just asking.”

 

“It would be a lot easier for all of us if you just tell us what happened.” Keith tried to coax.

 

“Mami, I didn’t do anything. I was only trying to be helpful.”

 

“Clara.” She never ever ever ever volunteered out of the blue to help out without there being some kind of shitstorm brewing. She did help around the house or with the kids but only if asked.

 

Her expression darkened as she glowered at Keith. “I didn’t DO anything. Why can’t you just trust me?”

 

“Okay, if you didn’t do anything, then what happened?”

 

“Nothing happened! Why are you always like this?!”

 

Like what? “Like what?”

 

Lance snorted. He began preparing for the day, piling up bags of corn husks he had bought from the local farmer’s market. There were way too many bags, how many tamales was he making??

 

“Can you two agree on a truce for the day? It’s not even dawn yet and it’s Christmas Eve - I don’t want to hear it.”

 

“Fine, whatever. I’m leaving.” Without even a second glance at Keith, Clara stuck a piece of toast in her mouth, snatched her coffee cup and stormed away.

 

Keith glared, annoyed at her rude dismissal but let it go for Lance’s sake. He watched him fill a stockpot with water and then another.

 

“Why are you making so much - there’s five of us not fifty.”

 

“Kitten...” Lance purred. He stalked forward and curled his arms around Keith’ waist, one hand going down to grab an ass cheek as he kissed him. He tasted like coffee and alpha, one of Keith’s favorite combinations. It didn’t matter that Lance had lifted him off his feet and was walking away with him.

 

The hand on Keith’s ass disappeared and he heard a creaking door before he was deposited on brick pavers that felt cool and gritty to the soles of his feet.

 

Lance’s expression dropped into a scowl. “Fuck off.” He then slammed the door shut on Keith’s face.

 

Keith was in the backyard. Lance had kicked him out of the _house_. Rude.

 

He went around to the front and made his way back inside.

 

Later in the morning, once the kids were up and sorted, Keith decided to go clean up his own clutter in their bedroom as an early present to Lance. Shiro and Saul were in the backyard and Clara was on her back on the couch, messing around lazily with the schematics she had projected from the soft tablet she had propped on her chest. She was not talking to Keith, only responding in short indifferent phrases when he asked her anything.

 

Annoying but Keith wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it.

 

He peeked into the kitchen, spotting a bowl of popcorn Lance had popped and quickly stole it when he wasn’t looking.

 

Back in his room, he picked up clothes and crammed them into the hamper as he thought about his daughter. If Clara was home, she was usually holed up in her room or in the shed where they stored her cycler. It was odd that she was hanging out in the living room especially after their morning snit-fest. He thought maybe she wanted to talk to him but she was giving him the silent treatment so he had no idea what was going on with her. He didn’t know whether he was coming or going with her half the time.

 

He kept the bedroom door open, hearing Saul and Shiro run back inside as he tidied up.

 

Shortly thereafter, he heard a commotion and then both Saul and Shiro burst into panicked crying.

 

He rushed out to the hallway, same time as Lance who yelped, “I got stuff frying, you got it?!”

 

“Yeah, I’ll call you.” He said tersely as he ran, meaning he’d call out for him if he needed help.

 

He found Clara on her knees, worriedly trying to grab her brothers to get a look at them.

 

“What happened?”

 

“I don’t know, they just started screaming!”

 

Keith landed on his knees next to her, pulling his flailing sons to his chest. “Let me see.” They smelled weird, maybe like a mix of vanilla and alcohol.

 

“It hurts!!” Sob-screamed Saul, bouncing on his feet as he clenched his arms together. “It hurts!”

 

“The body lotion.. its burning!!” Shiro cried as he tore off his shirt.

 

“What lotion??” There was wet white cream all over his chest, like moisturizer badly rubbed in. The smell was really sinking into Keith’s sinuses and was making his eyes tear up. “What _is_ that?!” Keith tore Saul’s shirt off as he started wiping at the gunk. It was all over Saul as well.

 

Clara gasped suddenly. “I know that smell! Shiro that’s not lotion, you took that from my room!” She said in a panic. “I use that to clean the cycler propulsion, I wear gloves for that! God it’s all over you!”

 

Keith tried to stay focused. ”How do I get it off?”

 

“Soap and water, you can wash it off-”  He picked up his sons and was up and running towards the bathroom before Clara finished. She was scrambling towards the garage as she said, “It doesn’t stop the itch though!”

 

He dumped them in the tub, tapping the shower head on and grabbing the handheld as he pulled the rest of their clothes off. The bit of cleaning product that made it onto his arms was beginning to itch quite badly. He soaped them down and rinsed as much as he could but they kept right on screaming. He could tell why too; his arms now felt like they were on fire. Oh god, his kids were getting tortured.

 

Clara ran in with a bottle, squirting an orange goop on her brothers and rubbing Shiro down with it while Keith did the same for Saul. It seemed to alleviate them immediately as they both started moaning shakily in relief then crying from the fright rather than pain.

 

“That’s what you get for taking stuff that’s not yours!” Clara said to Shiro though it wasn’t out of spite; she sounded more like she was venting after a big scare.

 

“Not now, Clara. What’s that cleaner called?” Keith said.

 

“Here.” She said and pulled her phone, projecting a small screen from it and pushing it over to Keith.

 

It wasn’t toxic unless ingested. And the itch wasn’t going to damage their skin long-term. Maybe a rash if untreated. He relaxed. Quiznak.

 

“Thank you.”

 

He wiped the fiery burn off his own arms once the kids were okay. He scrubbed Saul down who was already cheering up and wrapped a towel around him. He did the same for Shiro who sniffled, “It was an accident..” His eyes slid over to his brother. “I didn’t mean to hurt Saul.”

 

Keith smiled kindly at him as he helped him out of the tub. He rained a few thankful kisses on Clara’s head while she was still on her knees, glaring at Shiro.

 

“Can you get their clothes in the washer please?”

 

She nodded as he picked Saul up and took Shiro’s hand. Keith left the bathroom for Saul’s room and treated their skin with salve then got them into a new set of clothes.

 

Saul was back to his regular self by the time Keith was done, picking up a stuffed toy and humming as he ran back out to the living room. Shiro, on the other hand, looked like he had been mentally flaying himself the entire time.

 

“You have to ask permission before you take stuff, Shiro.” Keith said to him gently.

 

“I thought it was lotion! It was an accident.” He said miserably.

 

Keith hugged him, feeling his little body sniffle. “It’s okay. I know it was an accident.”

 

“I’ll never do it again.”

 

Keith held in a smirk. _Yeah, right_ . He’s been with Lance for too long cause his brain also said, _Never do what? Take stuff or moisturize without permission?_

 

“Good. Go play.”

 

Keith followed him out and popped by the dining room, opening the door and calling out in Lance’s general direction before shutting the door again. “Shiro and Saul were on fire but we put them out, they’re fine.”

 

“How’s it going Jetshine Shiro?” He heard Clara say as he dropped down on the armchair to recover.

 

Shiro glared, accidentally pushing Saul as he threw a cushion hard at Clara.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Shiro, don’t throw things.”

 

Keith narrowed his eyes at Saul who looked like he was going to mimic his brother and throw his stuffed animal at him. “Saul, no.” Saul looked up worriedly and decided to hug his dinosaur instead. Keith pointed to the sofa. “Sit.”

 

“Did you ground him?”

 

“He learned his lesson Clara.”

 

She sat up, seemingly offended. “What?! Is that it then?? If that was me, you would’ve grounded me for life!!”

 

Keith stifled a sigh. Can’t she cut him a break? “He’s not you.”

 

“Oh! Oh okay! Thanks for clearing that up. At least I now know for a fact that Shiro’s your favorite.”

 

He raised an eyebrow at Clara. “You’re all my favorite.”

 

“Big fat lie.” She singsonged.

 

Keith was clear-eyed and unflinchingly honest with his inner self.  But he loved his children too much to consciously acknowledge even to himself that yes as a person he probably had a favorite. Hopefully, he treated them all as fairly as he could.

 

“Aha! You’re not denying it!”

 

Her mannerisms were so like her dad it made Keith want to roll his eyes and flip his finger at her on reflex. Of course, he wouldn’t.

 

“Clara. It’s not a competition, I love all of you the most.”

 

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, “Then why won’t you ground Shiro like you ground me??”

 

“Shut UP Clara!” yelled Shiro, getting worked up.

 

“Shiro.” Keith warned him.

 

“See! If I did that you would’ve grounded me another week!!”

 

Keith sighed. “Clara. Why would I treat you the same when you’re different people?”

 

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe to be fair??”

 

She was yet again riding his last nerve. She had been so wonderful two minutes ago. “Clara.”

 

She frowned darkly at him, gearing up for a fight. Keith held his breath and counted. He softened his body language and tone and tried to explain, “Fair doesn’t mean everyone gets the same exact thing. You’re all different. You’re also ten years older, you know better than that.” She wouldn’t even do something like that at her age.

 

It didn’t go over well. She was taking a deep breath and her eyes narrowed.

 

Keith raised an eyebrow. “No you don’t know better? You still seven?”

 

That seemed to throw her for a loop as she was mid steam in her mental argument as she exploded. “NO. Yes! No. No.. Yes..” It looked like she was trying to figure out what side of the argument she was on and why. Keith smiled in amusement which angered her.

 

She hissed, “You’re a jerk. Jetshine Shiro is a soft flipping crybaby-”

 

“And now you’re grounded.” Keith said flatly just as a ball of angry rage rushed passed him and jumped Clara. “Shiro!” He said in astonishment.

 

“Ahhh! Get your shiny hands off me, you little-”

 

“Don’t hit your sister! Get off her now!!” At least Clara wasn’t trying to hit him back but Shiro seemed possessed. “Shiro!!” He grabbed Shiro by the waist. “Let go of her right now!”

 

“OW! Shiro!! He bit me!” She yanked her arm away to inspect the damage.

 

“You’re so stupid!!!” Shiro screeched at her as he was pulled away. Keith deposited him at the corner of the room and crouched down to his level.

 

“What have I said about biting?”

 

“She started it!” Shiro said breathlessly, little chest heaving.

 

He frowned at his son. “Breathe.”

 

Honestly, he needed a breath himself before he snapped angrily at Shiro who would be devastated.

 

He waited to calm down some then said evenly, “Since you decided you rather fight with Clara than you must not want to play with your toys.” Shiro immediately began to weep as if he had been handed down a death sentence. It was _really_ hard to punish him when he looked so broken up. “Put all of your toys back in your room. Once you’re done, I want you to come back here and wait for me.”

 

“You would’ve been yelling at me if I had done that.” She was right, he would’ve initially bit her head off instead of calmly talking. Unfortunately, she got the initial brunt of his lack of parenting skills. He got better.

 

“Why am I the only one that gets the special step-child treatment?” She continued.

 

“Clara.”

 

“No really, I’m asking.”

 

“If you’re really asking me something then you need to find a better approach.”

 

“You don’t know what I’m asking?” She wondered, sarcastically.

 

He struggled with keeping his temper in check and replied evenly, “What I know is that you’re deliberately trying to pick a fight. If you’re upset about something-”

 

She cut him off, yelling over top of him as she leapt up,  “You’re the one that-”

 

“Corner. Now.” Keith interrupted. He wasn’t having it.

 

“What???” She blushed. “Mami that is ridiculous. I’m seventeen in like 5 days.”

 

“And I’m 34. Still 34 in five days.” He regretted the sass back instantly, annoyed that she got under his skin. “Corner.”

 

“You’re ancient, yay. What life lesson am I supposed to get from your obsession with corners?”

 

Keith was a rage monster as it was, how was he supposed to not kill his daughter when she was always screaming _‘Murder me!’_ at him? “Corner or you’re grounded through your birthday. It’s your choice.”

 

She immediately scowled and opened her mouth to argue.

 

“One more word and you’re grounded for a _month_. You can say goodbye to your cycler access.” He threatened.  

 

She looked apoplectic but actually managed to keep her mouth shut. She was on full stubborn hate mode, refusing to budge from where she was standing and attempting to intimidate him with her glare. All it did was make him think of Lance.

 

_Princesa, wack! Mami ain’t scared of you._

 

Keith glowered as he stepped away from the corner he was leaning against to confront his daughter even as his head ran through ridiculous comments from his alpha. Lance reveled in trolling their kids with embarrassing use of old slang such as, “Wack.”  He spent months bombing Shiro and Clara with, “Wack attack!”

 

Another Lance moment ran through his head as her glare intensified. _Wack! You can’t dethrone the OG. [Your mom invented angry glares. He eats glares for lunch_.] Lance had once advised breezily as he walked past one of their standoffs like some sassy alpha giving his opinion on a talk show stream.

 

That cooled him off significantly. All he had to do was not murder his daughter. He could maybe do that even if her expression was now an extremely mocking smirk which was a new technique.

 

Nevermind, she was dead.

 

He was going to chop her into pieces and launch her into space, never to be seen again.

 

“Ma?” She was quickly starting to falter at the rage glare he had fixed on her as he rapidly cut the distance between them, head craning up as he got closer since she was now taller than him. Which in no way lessened the threat to Clara’s life and if she hadn’t moved by the time he got there he was going to unleash some kind of hell on her, he swore it. She panicked and scrambled away to a corner at the last second. “I’m going! Yeesh.”

 

He eyed her leaning against the wall with her arms crossed instead of facing the corner but decided it wasn’t worth fighting about as he was sure she was going to point out that he hadn’t explicitly said to face the corner and then he would have to tear her limbs off. He turned his attention back to Shiro who had made it back and was standing there looking like the most dejected child in the world. He was wiping his tears away with this arm.

 

Keith breathed then went over and crouched down to his level and said in his most disappointed tone, “You know better than to bite people.”

 

Shiro argued anxiously, “But you said if a bully punches you, make them regret it.”

 

“What?! I’m no bully! I did NOT punch you. Mami you were there-”

 

“ _Clara_.” He was going to have to ground her after all.

 

“Shutting up, shutting up!” She must’ve sensed the danger to her birthday plans as Shiro yelled back, “You did too!”

 

Keith gave Shiro such a cold disapproving look that the dead would’ve caught chills. Shiro shrunk back, horrified that the look was directed at him. Keith said to his son neutrally. “Clara was not punching you, Shiro.”

 

“Yes she was!” He said stubbornly. He took a deep breath and said in the most indignant, most gravely offended tone that Keith had ever heard, “She punched my _soul_.”

 

A loud snort erupted from the other corner. “Oh my god.”

 

Keith bit down on his bottom lip hard. Oh Shiro was going to hear about this when he was older. He might never live it down. _Keep it together, Keith. Keep it together. Do not laugh at your son. Don’t do it. That would be horrible._ Keith coached himself through it.

 

When the danger of laughing to death was over, Keith responded kindly, “I meant if someone is being mean to you and hits your body on purpose. No matter what, Shiro, you don’t bite people unless you are fighting for your life.”

 

“I’m not a shiny crybaby...” He mumbled, lips trembling as he glowered at Clara.

 

Keith was gonna have a laugh stroke. Was that a thing? He took a cleansing breath and then another one.  “Baby, don’t let your sister or anyone shame you for having feelings. What Clara said had nothing to do with you. She thought saving face was worth hurting her younger brother.” He said pointedly, loudly directing it at her.

 

Shiro frowned and looked wide-eyed at his sister which good, Keith knew that would make Clara feel guilty.

 

“Why?” He asked sounding heartbroken. Good work, Shiro.

 

“You will have to ask her.” And that was plenty punishment to Clara. He stood back up and led his son to Saul’s room where he moved a rocking chair towards a corner and had him sit. “Time out for five minutes. You don’t get your toys back after that but you can come back out.”

 

Shiro moaned unhappily but sat and watched as Keith set a timer on the clock. Keith left his son there, quietly shutting the door behind him and locked eyes with his daughter who was watching him neutrally.

 

He went over to her and gestured for her arm, wanting to see the bite for himself. As he was reaching out, she surprised him by taking his hand in hers, awkwardly shaking it.

Keith stared at his daughter incredulously, “Why are you shaking my hand?”

 

“Weren’t you offering a handshake?” She said in deep confusion.

 

Keith stared. “No. Why would.. I wanted to see the bite.”

 

“OHH. Oh okay.”

 

If he had to repress another round of insane laughter he really was going to have a stroke. He crossed his arms and looked away to gather himself but his eyes landed on Saul who was somehow still sitting on the couch obediently except now he was fully surrounded by dinosaurs. He had grabbed the bowl of popcorn that mysteriously materialized from Keith’s bedroom and for whatever reason was sticking the popped kernels one by one in his mouth and not chewing.

 

Saul seemed thrown for a moment that a character in the deeply fascinating soap opera that was his siblings in trouble, turned to look at him. He tried to smile at Keith, cheeks overly puffed with popcorn, giving a demented spin to his grin. It was like staring down a friendly squirrel who had overestimated it’s jowl capacity. A squirrel sitting in the jurassic era. Dolphin had popcorn in its mouth.

 

“I’ll be right back. Nobody move.” Keith managed to say as he fled the living room.

 

He powerwalked into the dining room, straight through to the kitchen and collapsed on a counter stool, burying his head in his arms.

“You okay? Kids on fire again?” He heard Lance say.

 

“No. Your children are wack.”

 

“Wack attack.” He responded sagely.

 

Keith desperately worked on regaining his composure then sat up, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

 

He watched Lance cook. That really was way too many tamales.

 

“So biting’s an omega thing?” He asked idly.

 

Lance glanced up at him and snorted, “You don’t see me craving a bite off your shoulder, do you?” Pointedly, “Unlike _some_ of us.”

 

“How do I stop it?”

 

Lance actually stopped peeling boniatos to stare. “Are you seriously asking me that? I’ve been trying to figure that out for years.”

 

“I don’t bite you much.” Keith said in amusement.

 

“You bit me for nine whole months with Shiro.”

 

“I don’t bite you now.”

 

He started peeling the tuber again. “The chomp threat factor is low right now. It’s a cyclical chomp.”

 

“What?”

 

Lance glanced up again, “Kitten, at preheat, you start looking at me the same way you look at roasted eggplants. It’s how I know for sure that your heat is coming.”

 

“Mm..” He grabbed a bowl of chopped carrots and popped one in his mouth. He already kind of knew what Lance said but hadn’t put that knowledge into a coherent thought before. It was just the way things were.

 

Keith stopped chewing as a horrifying thought crossed his mind. “It’s not a cyclical chomp for Shiro, is it?!”

 

“Huh?”

 

“He just bit Clara!” Keith said scandalized. “And he had bit that kid in school, remember?”

 

Lance stopped peeling to look at him thoughtfully.

 

The panic was making him feel sick. “Tell me that’s not it. He’s too young for anything heat related.”

 

“I don’t know Kitten. Do you remember wanting to bite a lot as a kid?”

 

He thought about it. “I don’t think so. I think it was always heat related.”

 

“When did you first go into heat?”

 

“Thirteen? Fourteen? Definitely not _seven_.”

 

“Hm. We should make an appointment with his doctor.”

 

Keith nodded as he drew up a control screen with nerveless fingers, navigating to family profiles and pulling Shiro’s medical information.

 

“Maaaa!” Clara yelled impatiently from the living room.

 

“Move and your grounded!” Keith yelled back as he requested both a call back and a potential time slot with Shiro’s doctor.

 

“It’s probably nothing.”

 

He nodded. He really hoped that was true. He couldn’t bare the thought of Shiro having to deal with any form of heat side effects so young in his life. He would have to wait and find out.

 

There was a big bowl of popcorn in front of him.

 

Keith waited until Lance turned his back on him and grabbed it, turning around to march back to his personal torture chamber.  At least he’d have fresh popcorn.

 

Shiro was back sitting next to Saul, holding a stuffed dinosaur and quietly playing pretend with his brother.

 

Keith caught Clara looking at the ground, lost in her thoughts. She was much more somber than normal.

 

He frowned. There was no doubt that something more was going on with her.

 

“Clara.”

 

She looked up in surprise then glared, “What?”

 

Keith sighed and sat down next to Shiro. He gave him a side hug which his son happily melted against. Keith wasn’t sure how he should deal with the biting thing long term; he would check in with the doctor first. He asked him,“You want some popcorn?”

 

“Oh wow, taking it easy on Shiro. What a surprise.”

 

Keith bit off a groan. “Clara, I really don’t want to fight. I was going to cut you a break but not sure if you deserve it.”

 

“You can do whatever you want, I don’t care.” She said with her usual one-upmanship. That wasn’t particularly out of character but something was just _off_ with her. She looked distracted somehow yet she focused hard on raging at him. Maybe to get her mind off of whatever was troubling her?

 

He met her eyes coolly. He didn’t know what to make of her inner turmoil but he wanted the holidays to be good for her. He nodded his head at the empty spot next to him, gesturing for her to sit. “Come here, please.”

 

She sighed wearily to herself and headed over to him. She sat and looked at him mulishly.

 

“You think you can sneak out some butter and salt from the kitchen without your dad noticing?”

 

Clara blinked in surprise, her gaze softening into amusement. “Yeah.”

 

“Great. We’re counting on you.”

 

She huffed as she smiled and stood up. Shiro and Saul giggled and hopped up excitedly as they watched their sister go and waited for her return. Keith heard her chatting up Lance and shook his head, both amused and annoyed at her inherent sneakiness. A few minutes later she was back with the stuff.

 

“You can put as much as you want.” He awarded, alarmed nonetheless at the butter dump.

 

Saul sang to himself as he stood between Keith’s legs and grabbed popcorn, feeding himself and some for Dolphin. Shiro and Clara was on either side of him. They munched silently for a while.

 

Keith eyed his daughter and tried to reach out, “What’s going on, princesa? Do you want to talk about it?”

 

She frowned and shook her head ‘no’, not looking at him when she said, “I’m fine.”

 

“You know you can talk to me, right?”

 

She refused to look at him as she shrugged and leaned back on the sofa.

 

“Okay!” That outraged yell came from the kitchen.

 

Ah that was Keith’s cue to toss a knitted throw they had on the sofa over the bin of popcorn, effectively hiding it.

 

“Don’t let him know about the popcorn.” He said to his giggling kids. They all turned as one to look at Lance when he arrived, wide-eyed innocence from the kids and bored indifference from Keith.

 

“Oh look, a four headed purple-eyed monster right here in my home.” He said mostly in annoyance, mostly staring directly at Keith. “Did you happen to see a big bin of popcorn I had cooling in the kitchen? Which I was going to pour caramel over? Which the caramel is now cooling and hardening all by itself because this _fifth batch of popcorn_ is gone? Any ideas? Any at all?”

 

“[Did you check under the sink]?” asked Clara as Keith said, “No idea.”

 

Lance narrowed his eyes. “[Why would it be under the sink?! Two of your heads are crunching. What’s under the blanket?]” He said as he took one menacing step forward.

 

“[A dinosaur]!” Saul piped up, helpfully, popcorn bits flaking out his mouth as Keith gave Lance his best most alluring poker smile.

 

“Oh really.”  Lance hissed disapprovingly.

 

Keith locked eyes with him. “He’s telling the truth.”

 

“Oh really?”

 

Keith’s teasing smile curled even further as he rearranged the blanket and very slowly and theatrically pulled out - a dinosaur which he had also hidden under the blanket.

 

Lance’s eyes widened in surprise, both of them smirking for a second before Lance tried to hide his amusement.

 

“You-hey!!” He sputtered as Keith threw the dinosaur at him and leapt off the couch, running out the front door as the kids except for Clara yelled in delight. Clara saved the popcorn bin and continued to dig in.

 

“Come back here!.” Keith ran around to their backyard, grinning to himself.

 

“[Kids, this is what you don’t do.]” He heard Lance say before a guayaba hit him on his left asscheek.  

 

“OW!”  He laughed. Another hit him on the other cheek as he ducked around a tree. “Ow, Lance!”

 

He kept throwing guayabas each time Keith peeked his head out. He laughed loudly when he witnessed Shiro and Saul grab Lance who yelped as he went down. Clara had followed as well, eating popcorn from the bin and lazily pulling a guayaba off a tree, dropping it in the bin to eat later. He quickly joined her, eating out of the bin as well, watching as Lance tried to get away from the tickling.

 

The kids were ruthless but Lance managed to get back up with very little of his dignity intact as he snatched what was left of the popcorn and declared, “If one more thing is stolen and/or eaten by ANY of you INCLUDING mami, you’re ALL grounded and timed out. And you!” He pointed at Keith. “I’m scratching the paint off your car!!”

 

“No!!”  Clara exclaimed in genuine horror. “That’s a limited custom red color!” Keith cackled as Lance stared at his daughter.

 

“And technically the food is not stolen since it’s for us.” Clara pointed out.

 

Lance grabbed the back of her neck and started guiding her towards the kitchen entrance. “So glad you’ve volunteered to peel the shrimp. C’mon.”

 

“Arrghh, papi! Noooooooo.” She whined.

 

Keith followed, smiling.

 

They hung out in the dining room for most of the day. Shiro and Saul moving between them and the living room. They had their Christmas Eve feast, early in the afternoon. Lance had gone all out and as Keith suspected, there were way too many pork tamales. There was way too much everything. They had to put leftovers in their sister’s barnhouse rental (the _casa particular_ , as those rentals were called in Cuba, it was shockingly unrented for the holidays.)

 

After dinner, Lance took a long nap and then got up to get ready for the exciting part of the day.

They were going to the city of Remedio for the Parrandas Festival which had been going on for hundreds of years since Remedio was a small town. The heart of the festival still took place in the original town square.

 

Keith was stuffing filtering headphones into a bag in the living room when he heard Clara come out of her room. He did a double take when he saw her, grinning widely, “Wow!”

 

She laughed. What was once exclusively worn for tourists had somehow become weaved into the real tapestry of traditional culture - she was wearing a bata Cubana complete with a yellow headwrap tied in a pretty bow. There was plenty of modern clothing but people had begun a new custom of wearing traditional clothes in festivals.

 

The full length dress she was wearing had a ruffled boat neck top. It looked like a relaxed mini-dress sewn to three layers of ruffles at the bottom. The dress was a cheerful spring green covered in a yellow flower pattern and had a white trim lace.

 

“If you give me one of your Galra knives, I can wear it and kick off the first authentic Cubalra style.”

 

Keith laughed. “Not happening.”

 

Cuba had sought to celebrate it’s vibrant cultural history; its music, clothes and religions, all echoing the forced collision of Yoruba and Congo African cultures to native Taino to Spaniard European ones that continue to shape its people. A people that also share the intergenerational trauma that came from the catastrophic events that brought life on Earth to its brink.

 

Earth had now become a One World planet which was like an empowered United Nations that governed the world (and had the teeth to enforce law). Technology, ever present and mature, continued to bring humanity together in unprecedented ways like it had for the last few hundred years except people learned how to wield it without sacrificing the social fabric.

 

Keith wondered how Earth was going to handle the existence of the Galra or Balmera or the resurging Alteans. Or any of the aliens that have touched his life. He huffed in amusement; he and his family were aliens living among them. It was a matter of time before it got out that humanity was not alone.

 

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Shiro and Saul run out from Shiro’s room followed by Lance who had helped Saul get dressed. Keith stared at his conniving family. They were _all_ dressed up.

 

The boys were wearing pale green guayabera shirts with reddish-purple and gold flower prints along the front pleated panels. Lance had a classic white guayabera and beige linen pants.

 

Keith backed up and said preemptively. “This is a trap and no way in hell.”

 

Clara huffed. “Oh c’mon, ma! Everyone wears this stuff at festivals!”

 

“Told you he’s allergic.” Said Lance smugly. Shiro ran towards Keith and peered into the bag he was packing. His brother shortly followed - they were wholly uninterested in the conversation.

 

As far as clothing, there were broader dress norms for omegas than for the other two dynamics; in Cuba, both traditionally male and female omega clothes were typically some kind of cross between what was considered male or female attire, probably in recognition of their physically dual natures.

 

Different styles and fashions throughout the years had omegas of either sex wearing combinations of highly feminine or masculine clothing. Omega boxer briefs ranged from alpha boxer brief styles - except for the cut which was designed for omegas so it included a crotch panel - to satin, dainty briefs similar to panties (omega panties had a scalloped or stretchy front). Keith shuddered to think what traditional omega male clothes would look like.

 

“It’s not bad at all!” Clara said. “Aunt Emily left some stuff for you and she said to wear it or else.”

 

Keith frowned. Of course she did and her ‘else’s’ were something to be afraid of. Fortunately, she and the rest of Lance’s family were with other family they had been visiting in the US when they got stranded by a snowstorm. Otherwise, they would’ve had a crowd for dinner (and the tamales would’ve made sense).

 

“Please?!” Clara begged.

 

_Urrrrghhhhhherrrhghghhgh._

 

“Let me see them.” Keith said reluctantly.

 

She retrieved some clothes from her room. “You can wear this or this.”

 

They were both guayaberas, apparently stylized for omegas. They still had four pockets but had cap sleeves and had a princess cut to them. Like everything ever in the omega section of clothing stores. He should’ve known. Option 1 was cream colored with a delicate print of brown and pink flowers and green leaves. Option 2 was a plain spring green but appeared to include a loud reddish-purple shawl that had a print of gold flowers.

 

He pointed at option two. “The shirt. I’m not wearing that thing that’s with it.”

 

“It just wraps around your hips.”

 

“No it won’t.”

 

“Maaaa. It’s just one night! There’s pants, too.” The pants were natural linen color and looked like Lance’s pants. She shoved the clothes into his arms.

 

He looked at Lance who seemed to enjoy being a bystander. He shrugged, smiling. “It’s like four hours, Kitten.”

 

Keith looked back at Clara. She finally looked cheered up. He bet him refusing would dampen her spirit. Ugh. Quiznak.

 

“Fine.”

 

She grinned.

 

She grinned even harder when he returned a few minutes later.

 

“Mami!” She came over and pulled his hair out from it’s custom low ponytail and stuck an open headwrap on his head that matched the (poorly tied) wrap. “There! You look like a classic Cuban omega.”

 

He glanced at Lance and stiffened. Interesting. The clothes weren’t particularly sexy but Lance looked like he wanted to fuck him. Keith would take it. He smirked as a sizzling look passed between them. _Later_.

 

They crowded into Lance’s jetcar and took to the skylines

 

Remedio was amazing. The old colonial streets were lined with haggling street vendors, suspect amusement rides, and savory street food. Friendly people dressed in colorful clothing filled the streets with laughter and energy. Keith and Lance held each other nervously at times, neither one entirely comfortable with loud uncontrolled crowds, but wanting their kids to experience the fun.

 

Fortunately, the headphones muted the boisterous noise and filtered out most of the triggering sounds. There were decorative banners and all kinds of paper lanterns all over the square. They walked through the maze-like streets of both the old Carmelitas and Sansarises aligned neighborhoods, weaving through sounds of conga drums and trumpets that blared over the steady beat of wooden claves.

 

There were Conga lines that Lance joined with Shiro and such spirited dancing from Clara that Keith wondered if she would fracture her hips. Keith snuck away before any of them tried to get him to dance, he smiled to himself as he felt Saul wiggling around in the backpack carrier he was strapped to. His son was singing loudly, unabashed for once since there was so much going on and therefore the attention was not on him.

 

The competition between the neighborhoods was in full-swing. Keith was there in time for San Salvador’s turn and watched in awe as the sky was illuminated by shimmering blue. Spiraling rope-like lights spun together and formed the shape of a Fighting Rooster several stories high. It spread its wings and exploded into fireworks as trumpets, shakers, bells, and percussions of a lively Rumba began. Hundreds of choreographed dancers in costume made their way down the cobbled main street, drawing revelers along as they went. Rooster flags were being waved all around them.

 

“Baby!” The headphones were filtered to favor their family’s voices. Keith glanced back and caught Lance kissing Saul on the cheek.

 

“Where’s Shiro?”

 

Lance smiled as he scooted in close. “My cousins kidnapped him! They were in a line for Guarapo last I saw.”

 

It seemed like there were cousins everywhere they went. Keith stared at Lance as the last half sunk in. “Guarapo is literally sugarcane juice. _You’re_ dealing with him when we get back.”

 

“He’ll wear himself out!”

 

“Yeah right.”

 

“Wow.” Lance said, taking in the parade of people that were coming down the street.

 

Keith grinned. He was experiencing the welcoming culture of his adoptive home and it was incredible. It was one thing he missed about his past - the way of life experiences - he had to learn quick and adapt to a variety of customs and social norms as Voltron struggled to form a coalition. Each alien civilization had their overarching characteristics which were then possibly wildly subverted by the varied cultures within their world. In another life, he might’ve spent time exploring the alien worlds; maybe continue to help rebuild in some way.

 

The parade of dancers was getting closer.

 

“Do you want to dance?” Lance asked.

 

Keith snorted. “No.”

 

Lance turned to face him, arguing, “C’mon, Kitten, you can’t go to a parranda and not dance!”

 

Keith made a face but got distracted as something caught his eye behind Lance - his daughter’s dress. He realized she was dancing Rumba among the revelers but was smiling goofily at her dance partner and appearing to be talking to him as she danced. She looked transported in a very different kind of way then she had all night.

 

“Lance.” He gestured towards their daughter. Lance turned around in search for what he was looking at then spotted her.

 

“Oh ho ho!!”

 

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand as he navigated through the crowd, his interest piqued. “Let’s dance.”

 

They danced their way right over to their unsuspecting daughter. Keith managed to get right next to Clara’s dance partner, a male omega smirking slightly at her.

 

“[What’s your name?]” Keith asked, taking the omega and Clara by surprise.

 

Clara looked like she leapt out of her skin. “[Don’t talk to strangers]!” She yelped.

 

Keith smirked at her, then yelled over the noise, “Good advise. Introduce us!”

 

“No thanks!”

 

“[You sure you want our daughter talking to you? She has this really annoying habit of cleaning her teeth with her fork after meals.]” Lance asked the omega from the other side of him. The omega laughed.

 

“Papi.” She gritted her teeth.

 

Keith took a mental picture of the omega’s appearance and behavior (slim, tall, approachable) for later dissection. “[So what’s your name?]”

 

“[Do NOT give him your name! Or home town! Or school! Or date of birth!! Give him nothing!!!]”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow as he asked, “He doesn’t go to your school?” Interesting.

 

“[You a cycler pilot?]” Lance schmoozed.

 

Clara spun in between Lance and the omega to run interference. “[Don’t answer that!]”

 

Which gave Keith the opportunity to get in close and give his best conspiring we’re-omegas-we’re-in-this-together look as he asked quietly, “[What’s your name?]”

 

Clara swung around to glare at Keith as she said, “[Don’t answer that! He’s a villain!]”

 

Keith gave his best bland mom smile at the omega who appeared to be having a good time. “[Look I have a toddler strapped to my back and I’m short. Very harmless. My daughter is just trying to scare you. What’s your name?]” He asked around Clara who got in the way.

 

“Ma. _You’re_ scaring him.”

 

“I’m fine.” protested the boy. Ah, finally a voice. He sounded calm. And friendly? Confident?

 

“He’s fine.” Keith advised.

 

“No he’s not.” She turned to the boy. “No you’re not.” Keith took the opportunity to lean around her and get another good look

 

Lance popped in behind Keith, “Hey, if our daughter is bothering you, let me know I can ground her for weeks. Years!”

 

“Ahh! Oh my god. Please don’t judge me. I can’t help them. They’re senile.”

 

“Clara is short for clarinet.” said Lance conversationally as he danced around them.

 

“PA.”

 

“What? I’m senile. You might want to stop your mom, he is pulling out his comm.”

 

“MA NO.”

 

She blocked Keith’s view of the boy, stopping him from capturing a scan and making an official Garrison request to local law enforcement for a civilian profile analyses. Keith frowned at Lance for ratting him out.

 

“Mami, that’s not fair.” She stopped dancing.

 

Keith stopped too and held his breath, she looked like she was bracing herself for something. Keith frowned as he put his phone away and stared at his daughter. “Why won’t you tell me his name?”

 

Sensing things were about to get serious. Lance cut in between them and smiled sympathetically at his daughter. “The other neighborhood is about to start. Go have fun with your friend, princesa. Check in with us by midnight. We’ll be in front of hotel Mascotte.” He took Keith’s hand and squeezed.

 

She flashed a huge excited smile. “Thank you!” She turned to the omega, “Let’s go catch that!”

 

“Don’t make me regret trusting you!” He yelled at her retreating back.

 

“I won’t!”

 

Keith was still frowning as he watched them leave. “Is she spending the rest of the night with him? Who is that kid?”

 

“She spent the whole day with us. We can share her.”

 

“Who is that kid?”

 

“A friend of hers.”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow and finally looked back at Lance. “That’s all you got?”

 

Lance shrugged as he pulled him close for dancing unrelated to the current beat of the music.  “Yup.”

 

Keith knew _nothing_ about this kid. “What if he’s a problem?”

 

“A problem?” Lance snorted. “Like you were?”

 

“Worse.”

 

“What are you gonna do if he’s worse? Ban her from seeing him? That’s not going to work great.”

 

“So then what?”

 

Lance shrugged. “Let her make some choices. This is the part where you step back and hope you raised your kid right. ”

 

“Are you kidding me? I had no idea what I was doing! Also Clara chose to fight a seven year old today.”

 

“She’s fine!” Lance grinned. “Unless there’s some horrible thing happening, give her room to grow, Kitten. She’s earned _some_ trust, right?”

 

He made a face that would’ve made Clara proud. “Ughhhh.”

 

Lance laughed as Keith grumpily pressed his ear to his chest as they danced.

 

Keith sighed. He decided - for now - to just go with it. The crackling sound of fireworks was around them and Saul was still kicking his legs occasionally, the headphones filtering the noises to something low and pleasant for him. Since Keith was already among the crowd of dancers, he humored Lance and properly danced to the music.

 

Some sort of slower rumba fusion began where they would turn and dance with whoever was behind them when prompted by a singer. It was interesting to smile at a stranger and have a moment of shared fun and laughter. The inherit sexuality of the dance and smorgasboard of pheromonal scents lingering in the air - Keith embraced it all and simply enjoyed himself.

 

When he turned for the next dance partner, he had the shock of his life running into a broad, silver-haired alpha who grinned cheekily at him as he took his hand.

 

“Oh hi?” The alpha said.

 

Keith couldn’t help gaping like a fish. “Shiro!? What- When-”

 

“Where, why, who, and how?” Shiro said in amusement as he gave him a hug.

 

“When did you get back?!”

 

They moved into the milling crowd just outside of the dancing.

 

“An hour ago? Well I’ve been on Earth for two days but an hour in Cuba. Curtis is parking the rental.” He was making grabby hands as he peeked over Keith’s shoulder.  “Give me my nephew.”

 

Keith turned around, letting Shiro pull Saul off the carrier. Saul stiffened, looking at him neutrally as he got settled in his uncle’s arms. He quickly broke into a big smile, deciding he loved Shiro on sight.

 

Keith smiled wryly; yet another one of his children instantly gaga for Shiro.  “What kind of magic do you have? He’s usually really shy with strangers.”

 

“Kids love me.” Shiro said as he bounced Saul in his arms.

 

“Yeah.” Keith changed the headphone filtering so Saul could hear them better as he leaned into them both. “Saul this is your uncle Shiro. Your brother is named after him! Say hi!”

 

“Hi.” He said shyly. “Do you like dinosaurs?” He asked, always looking to recruit a dino-loving playmate.

 

“Are you kidding, I love dinosaurs!”

 

Keith smirked. “Probably because you are a dinosaur, old man. Are those grandpa glasses?”

 

“Hey, my glasses make me look debonair and gallivant. My alpha told me so. Where’s my niece?”

 

“Clara’s around here somewhere mooning after some omega boy.”

 

“Oh?”

 

 _“Ohh?”_ That was a very different yet also very familiar voice coming from behind Keith which was followed quickly by the voice of his oldest son, yelling, “UNCLE SHIRO!” Keith swung around.

 

“Hunk!!”

 

Looked like Hunk was the ‘cousin’ Lance mentioned earlier as he had an extremely wired Shiro scrambling off his shoulders. Keith laughed as he was caught up in a big bear hug while his son was grabbed by his namesake.

 

“Surprise.” Said Pidge, casually sidling up next to them. Lance arrived as well, grinning smugly at Keith.

 

“Look at how big you are!” Shiro said to their son.

 

“Surprised?” Lance asked Keith who eyed him in amusement.

 

“You set me up. I had no idea.” Which he should’ve if they all reached Earth. Pidge and Lance must’ve been conspiring.  
  
Lance grinned unrepentantly, tossing an arm over Hunk’s shoulder. “Yup!”

 

Hunk poked at Keith’s shawl. “Oooh what are you wearing? Are those Cuban omega clothes? Is this your thing now?.”

 

“Hardly. I was tricked into this for the festival.” Keith said flatly.  He scanned the crowd in case there were more tricks. “Anyone else coming?”

 

“Matt’s here too with his bondmate.” Said Pidge as she sipped from an enormous cup filled with Guarapo. “Coran, Romelle, and her boyfriend are on their way. Lotor can’t make it of course. Plus he would stick out like a sore thumb.”

 

“Maybe not, there’s a lot of costumes here.” Said Lance.

 

They all had smiles on their faces which then faded for each of them at what was left unsaid - Allura. The mood grew subdued within the intimate circle of friends even as the party continued around them.

 

“How is he doing? How’re the twins?” Keith asked.

 

“Lotor is okay. The twins are good. They miss their mom.” Hunk replied.

 

Keith nodded. It had been weeks since Coran had sent the message about Allura to Pidge. He wished he had had a chance to have seen her or at least speak to her one last time.

 

Her last moments were spent walking with Lotor, Coran, and Romelle alongside newly blossoming fields in New Altea. She had stiffened, saying simply, _‘Ohh’_ as if suddenly coming to a realization.

 

She had turned to Coran and Romelle and smiled as she hugged them, “I’m sorry for this sudden goodbye but it seems that all versions of me and all versions of Honerva have a special connection to quintessence. I- We are all willing to pay the price for the resurgence and strength of our multiverse.”

 

She had then turned to Lotor and gave him a lingering kiss as she began to fade from existence, “Don’t be upset.” She told him. “Few versions of me get the luxury of time. I’m so glad I did and that I had the chance to spend it with you. Take care of our children, Lotor. I love you so much.”

 

It was a shockingly quiet and abrupt end. She left a devastated mate, stunned friends and young children behind.

 

The lions disappeared too, the Paladins of Peace being the final set of Paladins.

 

Maybe it was a last sacrifice to the war. They didn’t know for sure.

 

“They’re building a tribute to her.” Said Hunk quietly.

 

Keith nodded. He was going to have to figure out how he was going to prepare his sons because there was definitely a visit to New Altea in their future. The Holts were aggressively pitching transparency about the universe to the Garrison anyway. He had a feeling they might do something extreme. He might not have to wait for long to see how Earth will handle aliens. Things might drastically change.

 

“Shiro, Curtis, Pidge, Hunk and Coran are staying at our place for a few days.” Lance said, quietly changing the subject. They would have time later to properly reflect and reminisce on their friend. “Romelle, Matt and their partners’ can stay at my sister’s rental, there’s a pullout sofa bed in the den..”

 

And a whole bunch of leftover food. Lance was tricky, indeed.

 

“How are we fitting everyone in our house?” Keith asked.

 

“Easy - we put our Shiro and Saul together. Shiro and Curtis can have Shiro’s room. Hunk and Pidge can use the sofabed in your office and if we move stuff around, the spare cot should fit in there too for Coran.”

 

Keith nodded. Then, like earlier, he caught sight of his daughter. She was walking alone among the crowd with her head down and arms crossed. Where was that omega?

 

“Clara?” He called out.

 

She looked up and then her mouth dropped as she got a good look at them.

 

“Ahhh!” She yelled as she ran towards the group.

 

Keith laughed, watching her have a melt down over Hunk and get surrounded by his friends as they all demanded a hug. She chatted animatedly with Hunk, appearing to forget what was troubling her. Keith smiled warmly as she immediately brought up some old engineering debate and got into it with Pidge and Hunk.

 

“They’re lighting up the plaza!!!” Screamed Shiro, virtually vibrating off of his uncle’s shoulders.

 

They made their way through the crowds towards the elaborate structures and watched in excitement as the custom builds came to life. The party would continue until dawn but the rum was free flowing and things were getting too rowdy for kids. Their own little party headed out.

 

Keith kept an eye on Clara as they made their way back. He kept catching her smiling sadly to herself or staring into the distance when she wasn’t engaged in conversation. It bothered him to see his daughter going through something but being unable to reach her.

 

She was on his mind as he put Saul to bed and stayed there even as she shrugged him off and said she was fine when he asked.

 

Lance was in the kitchen catching up with Pidge and Hunk while everyone else had called it a night, including Keith.

 

But Clara.

 

The next thing he knew he was slipping out of bed and heading right back out towards Clara’s door.

 

He knocked. “Clara. Are you awake?”

 

“What? I mean. Yes. What is it?” She said coolly.

 

Keith snorted to himself. She had said goodnight to everyone, including Lance, a lot more sweetly than she had to him and now she used that same rude, indifferent tone. It seemed that she reserved her worst for him.

 

“Can I come in?”

 

“It’s open.”

 

He found her laying on her stomach on her bed, staring at him evenly. He hesitated, unsure what to do.

 

Her eyebrow went up. “....What?”

 

Keith moved without a plan and laid down beside her.

 

“You’re in the wrong bedroom.” She said.

 

“I’m in the right one.”

 

She stared at him, puzzled, unsure what to think. “Trying out my mattress?” She asked him, flatly. “You want to take that from me too?”

 

He stared at her wondering why she seemed so determined to fight him all the time. He wasn’t going to take the bait.

 

Keith rest his head on his bent arm over a pillow and reached out to push back stray locks of her hair away from her face. She tried to look unmoved as he petted her cheek with his thumb and met her eyes. He said truthfully, “I don’t care about the mattress.”

 

They watched each other silently, contemplating each other.

 

“Are you mad at me?” He ventured.

 

She shrugged and looked away. “No.”

 

“Look at me.” He said not unkindly. She sighed and met his eyes, awaiting some kind of lecture.

 

“Clara.” He paused for effect. “You’re punching me in my soul.”

 

She really didn’t want to laugh but she was as silly as her parents and it tickled her. She bit her lip hard as Keith mouthed _my soul_ for emphasis.

 

“I did _not_ punch him.”

 

“You hurt his feelings. That’s worse than a punch for him and you know that.”

 

“He’s exhausting.”

 

“But you’re a picnic?” Keith asked, amused.

 

That surprisingly seemed to upset her enough to affect her scent. She drew invisible patterns on her mattress sheet. “I guess I’m not. I get that a lot.”

 

“You get what a lot?”

 

She shrugged.

 

“Clara.”

 

She sighed. “The boy at Remedio told me before that he doesn’t trust me. I have that effect on omegas. I mean my own omega mom doesn’t trust me so why should I bother.”

 

Keith hesitated, internally warring between digging for details about the boy or addressing her concern. “Why do you say that?”

 

“See?” She snorted, “You don’t even deny it.”

 

Keith stifled a sigh. “Princesa, I need the context. You make it hard to trust you sometimes when you make bending the truth an artform.”

 

She reeled back. “You lie too! You treat me like a little kid.”

 

He could feel his anger brewing as he chafed at being called a liar. She was getting to him again. “I don’t lie to you.”

 

“Really? How about that time someone bit you?” She asked challengingly.

 

“What?” He asked, confused.

 

“When you had that fight with pa. You had bruising all over your mouth for days after that. It was teeth marks, ma. That wasn’t some work accident like you said and no way it was papi. You got into a fight. Pa gets mad for like a week if I bring it up and you just keep lying about it.”

 

She glowered in response to the spike in his scent, probably assuming that he was getting angry.

 

Keith held his breath.

 

“Princesa...” He said slowly, reluctance heavy in his tone.

 

He could see her shutting him out again as if him not talking to her on the subject was rejecting her somehow. _I’m just trying to protect you_ was on the tip of his tongue but he had a feeling saying that would do more harm than good.

 

“You’re hiding that dumb fight you got into.  I can handle it. I’m not a little girl.”

 

Said the girl that went toe to toe with a seven year old earlier. The thought must’ve been evident on his face as her expression hardened.

 

“I’m _sixteen_.” She was tugging her hand away but he squeezed it, refusing to let go.

 

He found himself thinking about her childhood. For her, a lot of it was spent hiding or at the castleship unaware that she might not see her parents again. Sometimes they had no choice but entrust her with allies and the war came to her anyway, uncaring that she was an innocent child.

 

More than a few times he knew what the relief was like to find her taken care of among the refugees of an invaded planet. He’d spent time looking into her wide child eyes, uncertain what she may have seen or heard as he asked her to close her eyes to the suffering around her.

 

And now she was sixteen. He held her gaze and tried to think back to that age.

 

In some ways sixteen was harder. At her age, he had been pregnant and entering an old war which sucked in almost a decade of his life. At sixteen, he had been far from any sort of peace with himself. He had already gone through a lot, yet everything was still so new. There were all too many firsts in the kinds of pain that he would face time and again through life but at that age he had no learned way to bear it well. Only the punishing waves of experience would help him forge the tools he needed to cope. And only time allowed him to figure out what mattered to him and what didn’t.

 

Keith closed his eyes.

 

When it really mattered he could trust his daughter. She helped with her brothers just today and she took care of them all the time. She’d been through a lot in her life and was astoundingly resilient. Even as a child she constantly proved her mettle. And now she was dealing with concerns that she wouldn’t have even thought of as a child. She was busy worrying that she was being pigeonholed as some childish alpha. Clara was really growing up.

 

Not saying anything to protect his daughter was a disservice to her. He wanted her to come to him when it mattered. Which she wasn’t doing. Maybe he should give a little and see her for who she might become.

 

When he opened his eyes again, he said quietly, “Baby..what happened at work was more than a simple fight. I’ve kept what happened from you because its not for you to worry about and I want to protect you.” He squeezed her hand tightly, stopping her from immediately arguing as he wasn’t done.

 

Heart in his throat and entirely out of his comfort zone in revealing such heavy things to his daughter, he continued, “The other reason is because what happened to me is hard for me to even think about. It’s really hard for your dad too.”

 

She froze. She seemed to look at him with new eyes, completely forgetting her own teenage troubles as his words sunk in.  The world circling around her head, had for the moment, become inconsequential.

 

“ _Mami._.?” She whispered in concern, transfixed.

 

Keith gave his daughter a pained self-deprecating smile as he said, “An alpha tried to hurt me...sexually. He didn’t get far but he succeeded some.” It was hard to admit even to himself that he wasn’t infallible.  He knew intellectually he shouldn’t be ashamed to have been victimized yet the feeling that he had somehow let down his family was there, heavy and inescapable.

 

She looked horrified, blood draining from her face as the story took a turn she never expected. “Mami. No.” She moaned. She grasped his hand tightly in both of hers, pressing them to her chest as she scooted closer to him. “Are you okay?”

 

He kissed her forehead and smiled reassuringly, hiding the sliver of self-doubt as he said, “Yes. It’s very hard to break me, princesa.”

 

She nodded, looking at him with wide worried eyes. She seemed to catch what Lance didn’t. “Ma, you’re the strongest person I know.”

 

He beamed in pride at having such a compassionate alpha daughter.  “I appreciate that.”

 

“It’s the truth.”

 

He nodded, still smiling.

 

Her expression grew stormy. “Tell me he’s in jail.” She spat viciously, “I hope he dies. I hate him so much. I hate him.” She snarled, her alpha and Galra nature feeding her fury.

 

Keith shook his head, frowning. “Don’t think that way. Hatred is poisonous.” And triggered unspeakable cycles of horror during the war.

 

“It’s how I feel. He hurt you.” She made no bones about it, her eyes burning with the intensity of what she felt.

 

He squeezed her hand, wondering how to tackle this. Allura vanishing had him thinking about the past a lot recently. He decided to reveal another piece of himself to his daughter who shared his heritage.

 

“I’ve got a story for you. The Galra have a saying - Vrepit Sa. It means killing thrust. Long ago on the Galra home world, before space technology, there was an even older war among the Galra that consumed almost the whole planet. Generation after generation they fought until all they knew was hatred and suffering from each other’s hands. But one day they faced a foe far worse and far more powerful than all of the feuding Galra sects combined. The foe was clever, they helped each Galra sect fight the other and picked off what was left.

 

“When there was almost no Galra left, the Galra sects chose a different path. They set aside their differences and used what they learned from the pain they had suffered to come up with a perfect, clear-sighted plan.  Instead of striking each other in revenge as expected by their foe, they turned together as one, using their hatred to fuel a spear-like attack that they called the killing thrust. It was victory or death. They drove into their foe that day and killed the head of an evil empire. It was an enduring victory that saved all of their lives and their future.”

 

He unwound her hands from his and pressed his palm over her heart as he said, “Instead of being guided by hatred, they chose to learn from their pain which led them to the killing thrust. Vrepit Sa.”

 

Keith smiled at his daughter as he ended his story. “I learned that from the Galra and I took on that philosophy too. I’ve learned something from every single scar on my body.” Her eyes went down to his arms, paying attention to the faded scars that were forever etched on his skin and soul.

 

“Can I touch your knives?” She asked, sensing an opportunity.

 

Keith laughed. “No way.” He stroked her hair. When she was eighteen he would give her his heirloom knife. “You can feel that hatred princesa but don’t be blinded by it. Reshape it, do something good with it. Let’s make our Galra side proud.”

 

She bit her lip. “Mami...”

 

He held his breath, pensively. “That being said... I haven’t pressed charges yet. I told your dad that I will after the holidays but I’m having second thoughts.” The words kept tumbling out. “Am I doing something good by inflicting this on my family? Is that just? There could be a media circus if this gets out.” People might not believe him or say he was mistaken or say he’s looking for attention. His kids might be protected from the media as they were underage but that kind of spotlight would still have a huge impact on all of them.

 

Clara scowled, she took his hand in hers again. “Ma. _Yes_. You didn’t inflict this on our family. He did. I don’t care what the world says. I’ll laugh in their faces. Press charges. It’s the right thing to do.”

 

She was furious in her conviction. Well, shit.

 

Where did this amazing, beautiful, powerful, alpha woman come from?

 

Everything he had ever suffered was worth his daughter. His children. Everything. He’d throw Lance in a fire, he didn’t care.

 

He nodded, straightening the neck of her t-shirt.  “Okay.” He said simply. “When I get back to work.”

 

“You promise?”

 

He ran his hand over hers. “Yes.”

 

“Good.” She said fiercely.

 

Lance barged in suddenly, “Uh no, this is not the new sleeping arrangement.” He said as Clara groaned, extremely annoyed at the moment being ruined. “Don’t you know how to knock?!”

 

He knocked on the door behind him as he eyed them sensing he caught a sensitive moment.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Talking.” Keith said simply as Lance sat beside him.

 

“Get off my bed!” She yelped, disgruntled, then catching herself, she said, “Sorry.” Though she still looked annoyed at an alpha in her territory while feeling over-protective of her mom.

 

“It’s my bed, I paid for it, you freeloader.”

 

“You guys gave it to me.” She was looking at them both now, seeming to pay attention at how Lance threw a hand on Keith’s arm and how Keith leaned back into Lance’s touch. She started to smile, for once happy to see them together, appreciating the love and comfort her parents found in each other.

 

Lance snorted. “How about you thank us for having a bed?”

 

She made a face and shrugged, “Why? It’s the least you could do.”

 

Lance’s eyebrows flew up to his hairline as he said, “Oh _really_? How do you figure?!”

 

“I didn’t ask you to make me. I’m your fault. You need to take care of me.”

 

Keith couldn’t stop smirking as Lance choked behind him. His daughter was a nightmare.

 

“You evil spawn. Kitten, let her have it. Say the thing.” Lance said at last, after choking on his spit. He meant ‘you’re grounded’ which seemed to be in every exchange Keith had with Clara nowadays.

 

Keith looked Clara square in the eyes and smiled watching as her wariness transformed. They smiled conspiringly at each other as he said, “I love you.”

 

She pointedly looked back up at Lance smugly as if saying _ha!_.

 

“That is NOT the thing. Try again.”

 

“I love you.”

 

“Oh my god. You broke him.”

 

“I’ve never been less broken.” Keith countered immediately.

 

Clara was smiling widely even as she said, “Can you guys get off my bed now, this is weird.”

 

“You’re weird.” said Lance, immediately.

 

“Nice thing to say to your daughter!!”

 

“You’re weird though.”

 

“You’re weirdEST.”

 

“I’ve seen weirder. I’m seeing weirder right now.” replied Lance easily.

 

“[You must be looking at a mirror then.]”

 

“Kitten, the _thing_.”

 

“I love you.” Keith repeated.

 

“What did you do to him?!”

 

Clara honored Lance with a long suffering, roll of eyes, “Papi.”

 

Lance sighed mournfully before saying,“I love you too, Princesa, for the record.”

 

“Ha. I know.” She said, eyes gleaming even more smugly before she looked Keith up and down. “You’re kind of smallish all over.” She said as if that was a surprise.

 

Keith groaned, knowing that his alpha was immediately down with talking about his height feature. He wasn’t even that small, he groused mentally. Keith was a giant compared to Pidge.

 

“Isn’t he adorable? Your mami is the grouchiest, bite-sized omega in all the land and I love him and all his little bits.”

 

“Ew! Never say that again!” she said outraged as Keith snorted.

 

“Never say that I love his little bits?”

 

“Pa! Stop!”

 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Both of you are free to stop talking.”

 

“She started it.” Lance said in the same exact tone she used when she was blaming Shiro for something.

 

“Okay get off my bed. Please.”

 

“Wack.” Lance replied.

 

“Papi. I know you guys can never not be gross but could you please be gross elsewhere? Like anywhere that that is not my room?”

 

“Hey what happened to that omega? Did you text him?” He asked out of the blue. “Are you playing the who will text first game? Very cute. I approve.”

 

Her face turned bright red. “Oh my god. Go away!”

 

Keith blinked, he was starting to sit up to leave his daughter in peace but froze as he was keenly interested in knowing more about the boy. Would they see more of him? It didn’t look like things ended well? “How do you know him?”

 

Keith had gotten pregnant at her age. He didn’t want her and some omega repeating his mistakes. He didn’t regret his daughter but he wasn’t anywhere near ready for motherhood when he had her and he suffered a great deal because of it (and he worried that Clara did as well).

 

“Don’t worry, Kitten. I give bonus refresher sessions on the talk all the time. I had to look stuff up, alpha females -”

 

Ugh. Keith didn’t want to deal with any of that crap. He supposed it would be better if he talked about it with Shiro and Saul when the time came. No need to worry about it for now.

 

“Oh my GOD stop talking!!!” She buried her head under her pillow. “And I already know all that.” She moaned. “I go to school! Why don’t you stop traumatizing me for a change??”

 

Lance snorted, “I have no idea what kind of crazy messed up stories your friends at school are feeding you on rutting and sex.”

 

“I. Meant. The. _Teachers_.” She hissed.

 

Lance gasped. “Did you hear that, Kitten? She listens to the teachers now, mark the day on the calendar.” He addressed her again, “When did you start doing that? What was that like for you?”

 

Keith was still focused on the boy, hoping he could tease out some information. “Is he from your cycler meets?”  

 

She let go of Keith’s hand  to further bury her head under her pillow, groaning, “Mami...”

 

“I remember him actually.” Lance said mysteriously. “They have _canoodled_ before.”  

 

She made some kind of outraged baby elephant noise before sitting up and yelling,“We haven’t done any canoodling! There has been NO canoodling! What IS canoodling?! Get off my bed!! Get out of my room!”

 

Keith was frowning as Lance cackled behind him and sat up. He watched Lance scoot over to Clara and throw an arm around her shoulder. He huddled close, saying something secretly in her ear and smiling at her which made her groan in long suffering embarrassment.

 

She glanced uncomfortably at Keith then looked away.

 

Lance grabbed Keith’s hand as he stood up. “[Good night] princesa.”

 

Keith ran his hand over hers as he was led away. She looked at him in annoyance but a freer smile was there too. The underlying wrongness was gone. He hoped he got things right between them. He smiled back as he let go. Maybe he wasn’t the worst mom after all.

 

“Finally!” Lance said as they entered their bedroom, alone at last.

 

“I’ve been wanting to fuck you all night.” He whispered as he locked the door, making Keith smirk.

 

He got under the sheets, pulling Keith with him as he sprawled on his back. Soft lips kissed at Keith’s scent gland making him sigh and lean his head to the side for more kisses. Lance’s hand snuck from his omega’s waist to within his pants where he squeezed a buttcheek.

 

Keith nuzzled his shoulder, getting his fill of his scent and shivering as Lance pressed teasing fingers over his entrance. “Do it.” He felt Lance tugging at his pants and helped pull them off the rest of the way. Lance’s own pants looked tight and uncomfortable as his dick was starting to bulge against them.

 

It was a little cooler than Keith was used to so he tossed the sheets over his shoulders as he eased himself down on top of Lance, pressing his dick over Lance’s substantial one and rocking his hips. He watched Lance’s eyes grow hooded in pleasure and felt a tingling excitement at how Lance’s lips curled into a crooked smile. Keith could feel his untied hair spilling over his shoulders, framing his face and watched Lance’s eyes actually dilate and felt his dick harden in response.

 

Lance’s arms wound around his hips.

 

“You’re fucking hot, Kitten.” He said somewhat breathlessly, like he had been swept away or bewitched by his omega.

 

Good, here was Keith’s chance to shake some information out of him. He dug his knees in as his gaze bore into Lance’s, expression neutral as he stopped moving.

 

“Tell me everything.” He rumbled enigmatically, ready to smile and reward or make things difficult for Lance long-term.

 

Lance looked ready to ask about what, tempted to give Keith whatever he wanted. But then his eyes sharpened, smile turning sly. He was an old hand at his bondmate. He could go toe to toe with him anytime which was a huge turn on for Keith as neither one would bend to the other’s will very easily unless they wanted to. Dammit.

 

“It all started with a big bang-”

 

“Everything you know about that kid we saw with Clara. Now.” Keith said flatly.

 

“Or what? You won’t have sex with me?”

 

Keith gave him a look as if saying _you’re ridiculous, why would I do that to myself?_

 

Lance laughed as he slid Keith’s hair behind his ear and clasped his hands together over the small of Keith’s back. “Told you this is a trust thing.”

 

Keith frowned. “I trust Clara.” He paused. “We had a bonding moment.” He further promised, “I’m not going to do anything. I just want to know about him.” Maybe.

 

Over the years, Lance had perfected a look and tone that was custom-made for driving his bondmate up a wall.  He used it expertly as he referenced an extremely old argument that he knew would annoy the crap out of Keith. “What is it with you and made up bonding moments? Was she awake for it?”

 

Keith hissed, “Shut. The fuck up! It was real and you fucking remember that shit. You were just being an asshole.”

 

“Blah blah. First you want me to tell you everything then you want me to shut the fuck up. Which one is it, Kitten?”

 

Keith clenched the handful of Lance’s t-shirt in his hands threateningly, refusing to be derailed as tempting as it was. “Both. Who is he?”

 

“What happens if I don’t tell you?”

 

“You’re going to tell me.”

 

Lance eyed him coolly, unimpressed. “Not scared of you, sorry.”

 

Keith, ex-Paladin leader, had the perfect threat ready. He leaned in closer. “Picture me clipping my nails and Shiro’s and Saul’s. In our bed. Next to you. Nail clippings flying all over the place.”

 

Lance frowned. “I _hate_ that.”

 

“I _know_ .” Keith said viciously. “I’ll sprinkle clippings everywhere. I’ll leave you nail clipping vids and voice messages of nail clipping sounds. You _know_ I would do it. Every-”

 

Keith sucked in a breath, coming to a stop because Lance had just slid his hand down his back to press two fingers into his slicked entrance, rocking them inside.

 

“Oh you don’t have to stop.” Lance said, casually, “Don’t mind me, figured I’ll multi-task while you threaten me.”

 

Keith narrowed his eyes, struggling between wanting dick or getting Lance to talk. “We’ll continue this chat later.” He decided.

 

“Sure.”

 

Lance tugged Keith’s shirt off and ran his hands down to ass, smiling tenderly, which never failed to get Keith at least a little wet. “I bet you smell delicious. Like bonded, ripe omega.”

 

Keith snorted, trying not to laugh, “Ripe?” He shivered as Lance pressed his cock to his entrance and used his grip on his ass to spread him widely.

 

“Yup.” Lance hummed in satisfaction, angling his hips up as Keith sank down on his cock, taking as much as was pleasurable. They rocked together leisurely, the rolling motion quiet under the sheets.

 

They shared a lingering kiss. Lance smiled softly when their lips parted, looking smitten. “I love you.”

 

Keith smiled like the cat that caught the canary. “Sap.”

 

Lance chuckled and kissed him again. “You seem really happy.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“That’s it? Yes?”

 

Keith shrugged, still smiling as he sat up, causing the sheet to slip down to his waist as he rode his alpha’s cock. “Been feeling good today.”

 

“Mm..” Lance was distracted, cheeks flushing. “Feels good..might not need to come. We could just do this forever.”

 

Keith’s casually soft gaze switched to laser focus because somewhere in that comment, he might’ve heard some sort of implication that his alpha wasn’t going to come. Lance just threw down a challenge, unwittingly or not.  

 

“You don’t think I can make you come?”

 

“What? That’s not what I said.”

 

“But you don’t think I can make you come. I can make you come anytime.”

 

For a brief second Lance looked like he doubted that statement. Keith was beyond insulted.

 

Fear of what Keith might do flashed through Lance’s eyes. “Uhhhhhhhhmmmmm..” He said noncommittally. “Look Kitten I’m just worried that one day you’re gonna take me not getting there as some kind of personal insult, I’m getting older and at some point-”

 

Keith looked around as Lance babbled. Their closet was carpeted and was in their bathroom and therefore further away from everything. It was the best chance to muffle any noises. He pulled off suddenly, interrupting Lance as he said, “Get in the closet.”

 

“Excuse me?!”

 

The floor was going to be harsher but at least it would be quieter than trying anything too vigorous on the bed. He slid off the bed and hauled Lance to his feet, herding him towards their bathroom. “Get in the fucking closet right now or I will kill you.”

 

“Kitten, ow, stop it! What’s the matter with you?? Ahh.” He shout whispered as Keith pushed him and jabbed him if he tried to turn around or stopped moving.

 

Keith ushered him through the bathroom and shoved him into the closet.  

 

“Keith!”

 

“Lay down asshole!”

 

“What the-urgh!!”

 

Keith manhandled him onto the floor. He adjusted Lance aggressively until he had some space to work with and eyed his dick like the challenge that it was. He swiftly dropped down on his knees and swung a leg over Lance’s hips, facing away from him as he sat back down on his dick and got to work. He leaned forward, resting his hands on Lance’s legs and gave Lance a full view of his perky ass repeatedly taking his cock.  

 

He revelled in the physical pleasure of riding his alpha, bouncing hard enough that the momentum brought his hips back up. He could feel more slick dribbling out of his body and dared to let loose some heartfelt satisfied moans as he sunk down to get his fill.

 

“ _Quiznak_. Oh fuck.” Lance squeaked.

 

Keith sat back up, swerving his hips in a tight undulating grind, knowing Lance loved watching his body move. He brushed his hair aside to one shoulder revealing his scent gland and arched his back, resting his hands behind himself on Lance’s waist, aware of how the muscular flex of his scarred arms and upper back would get to Lance.

 

The modest V shape of his torso led to hips which had widened after baring his alpha’s children which he suspected Lance was as smug about as he had been over his heated pregnancies.

  
He smirked feeling Lance’s body start to grow rigid and relished pulling off abruptly. The hollow ache was terrible but worth the distressed mournful noise that escaped his alpha.

 

“Keith, what the fuck?!” Lance half yelped, half hissed.

 

Keith shrugged, feigning disinterest as he began to climb off his alpha. “You said you couldn’t get off.”

 

Lance pulled him back by the waist, this time face to face, eyes narrowed, “No I didn’t! Are you evil incarnate? Let me fuck you.”

 

“Me?” Keith asked innocently, ”Sure, be my guest.”

 

He closed his eyes savoring the familiar feeling of Lance pushing back inside.  “Mmmmm… “ He hummed softly as Lance sunk in further. Keith suddenly looked at Lance sharply and pulled off again before Lance could move. He leapt out of his grip, mockingly saying, “That’s all you got? No thanks!”

 

They tried to keep their laughter quiet as Lance wrestled him back before he could escape the closet, each struggling for the upperhand. Keith was on all fours, diagonally over Lance scrambling away when Lance trapped Keith’s leg between his thighs hampering his omega’s escape.

 

“You’re an asshole!” Lance whisper laughed and laughed louder as Keith hit a storage box causing a bunch of clothes to fall on top of them.

 

“I _have_ an asshole if that’s what you’re saying?” Keith said from under the clothes.

 

“No, that is NOT- Keith.”

 

Keith was doing his best to rub his butt on Lance’s cock while their legs were awkwardly scissored together. “Just proving I have one.”  He shoved a button-down shirt off his head.

 

“You don’t think I know about your asshole?” Lance pushed the rest of the clothes out of the way.  “It’s gushing slick at me half the time - I know about your asshole. And you’re not proving you have one, what you’re doing is rubbing your dick on my bellybutton. _In our closet_. I mean I guess that’s cute?”

 

“Did you know assholes are a human feature?” Keith said as if conducting a lecture, unconcerned that his moves weren’t particularly arousing to his alpha. “Necessary for a species so full of shit.”

 

Keith smiled, delighted when Lance lost it again, laughing helplessly. He kept right on smiling and moaned happily when Lance kissed his mating scent gland and ran his hand down his side. “You’re fucking ridiculous, Kitten.”

 

“Your fault...”

 

He then eyed him dubiously as Lance began to try to get his dick back into his entrance. They had rolled to their sides.

 

“You can’t.”

 

“Shut up I can do it.”

 

“That’s my thigh.”

 

Keith kept bringing his leg down every time Lance hiked it higher. “Would you - could you keep that leg UP??”

 

“Mm.” Keith shrugged, noncommittally. “You can’t fuck me this way.”

 

“Ugh.” Lance gave up, eyeing their bodies considerately.

 

Keith smirked. “I know how to do it.”

 

“Fuck off, I can figure this out. Okay lay flat on your back.”

 

Keith did so, stuffing some of the clothes under his head.

 

Lance moved away, resting his weight on his elbow and scooted forward until he was pressed next to Keith who wrapped his closer arm around Lance’s shoulder, fingers on the side of Lance’s neck. Lance then scooped Keith’s closest leg up so that the back of Keith’s knee was mostly hooked on his (Lance’s) shoulder. He then loosely sandwiched Keith’s sprawled further away leg between his own staggered thighs, angling his body enough to thrust back in comfortably.

 

“Ha, did it!”  He crowed in victory as he sunk back in and thrusted. “Ooh, your tits.”

 

Lance thrusted harder, watching the nice bounce to his omega’s boobs from up close.

 

“Fuck.” Keith rocked his head back and ran his hand down to his clit. He was more sensitive there than anything linked to his male reproductive system which he found out wasn’t true for all omegas as it varied for everyone.

 

“Fuck. Keep fucking me.”

 

“No thanks. Bored now.” Lance stopped abruptly, pulling out, immediately getting payback for earlier.

 

“Lance!“ He took a deep breath to yell through gritted teeth, “You- motherfff-” He gasped, “Ah!”

 

He choked at the renewed pressure and friction that began to perfectly pummel his internal thickened walls. Each solid thrust through his secondary entrance made him aware of his pussy loosening up as his body tried to get more and more of his alpha’s cock.

 

“Get wet, Kitten.” Lance coaxed as he plundered mercilessly.

 

He leaked slick giving Lance’s dick a glistening shine each time the buried portion of his shaft slipped out of his body.  

 

“Wetter.” Lance whispered, smiling evilly as he caught one of Keith’s nipples between the side of his hand and thumb, pinching and tugging tightly each time his thrusts pushed Keith’s tit further away. Keith, a complete sucker for a bit of pain during sex, moaned pitifully as the hurt heightened his arousal.

 

“Lance.” He whined.

 

“Wanna see you come.” He heard Lance say.

 

That knocked him out of the moment as it reminded him of the initial insult. He was gonna make _Lance_ come. Keith opened his eyes, fixing a smoky look that was complicated by welcomed pain on his alpha. “Come first.” He said, teasing smirk on his lips.

 

Lance bit his lip, affected by the view and the snug, slickened heat enveloping his cock on each thrust. His own smirk grew shaky. “You first.”

 

Keith closed his eyes concentrating on losing himself in the stinging pleasure, knowing that Lance’s gaze would roam freely. The hot steady rhythm and tight pinch on his nipple was pushing him towards the brink.

 

“C’mon, alpha. You can do it.” He moaned urgently when he felt Lance faltering, body tensing up again. His smirk softened as he met Lance’s eyes again, “Give it up, papi. Fill me up.”

 

It was like he had electrocuted Lance. The shock so strong that Keith could see the trembling wave of it run through his alpha. Lance’s body curled into itself and shuddered strongly as he orgasmed.  

 

“ _Fuck!_ ” His strangled cry was little more than a tight wheezing sound. He was desperately trying to hang on to some semblance of sanity, grabbing Keith by the waist as he ejaculated inside him.

 

Keith grinned, wholy gratified by his reaction. _That’s what I thought._

 

“Fuck.” Lance breathed hoarsely, shivering aftershocks running through him. “Fuck. Give me my soul back.”

 

Keith’s laugh turned into a moan as Lance ran his fingers on his seeping rim where they were connected. He coated the puffy lips of his slit with the slick he collected then shook his hand rapidly, side to side over his labia. The movement blurred his hand, causing his fingers to flutter over Keith’s engorged clit

 

Lance followed Keith’s erratic jerking movements, staying firmly embedded inside so Keith could feel like he was inescapably filled with cock as his clit was stimulated. Keith desperately shoved clothes over his face to stifle the loud groaning moan that escaped him as his body convulsed. He was somewhere else as he orgasmed, caught up in pure physical pleasure, his brain completely blanking out as his pussy pumped on its own.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

They both dropped back on the floor, dazed and panting.

 

“I think you killed me.”

 

Keith laughed and looked over at Lance who was looking up at the ceiling. He slid his leg off Lance entirely as he caught his breath.

 

Keith rolled to his side, running his fingers idly over the deep scar on Lance’s chest. He ran his eyes over his flushed languid face and smiled to himself when Lance’s eyes fluttered shut. He looked completely relaxed and satiated.  

 

Keith waited patiently for him to relax even further, petting his hair and running his fingers over his lips, smiling as he pecked them. He picked up his hand and compared his bond tattoo to his own which looped down from their ring fingers in the same manner though in different stylization.

 

The tattoos were tree of life branches, Keith’s using sharply angular, leaf-like threads while Lance’s curved softly and was more abstract. They had extended the tattoos the year before for their 10 year anniversary, adding Saul to the story - the letter ‘S’ on Lance’s version and a Galra symbol for Saul on Keith’s.

 

Keith glanced up again; Lance looked mostly asleep and mellow. Perfect.

 

“Lance.” Keith whispered.

 

“Mm.”

 

“That omega with Clara, you remember his name?”

 

“..Marcelo?”

 

He was getting somewhere! Very gently and nonchalant, he asked, “Yeah, what’s his last name?”

 

Lance’s breathing was getting audible and regular.

 

“Lance.” Keith said sweetly.

 

“Yeah Kitten?”

 

“What was Marcelo’s last name again?”

 

“Oh..it’s..” Lance said. “Nothappening Jr.”

 

He snuck a peek at Keith and laughed at the disappointed look.

 

“Is his first name actually Marcelo?” Keith asked grumpily.

 

“Does it matter if you’re going to run a search on the name anyway?”

 

Keith huffed.

 

“More important question - Why did you drag me out of our wonderful bed to fuck my brains out on the trash floor of our sweltering fucking closet, you sadist?”

 

Keith shrugged. “Less noisy.”

 

Lance cuddled him, making no move to get out of the hot closet. “We were plenty noisy.”

 

Keith swallowed, hoping they managed to be discreet somehow. It was fine, anyway.

 

Keith allowed himself to smile.   

 

What an eventful day, he would remember today for a long time coming. Keith grabbed the nearest shirt to wipe at the bodily fluids seeping out of him.

 

“That’s my favorite shirt!” Lance snatched the shirt away.

 

“I’m improving it.”

 

“With ass?” Lance snorted, tossing him one of his work tanks. “Improve your own shirt.”

 

Keith chuckled as he sat up, tossing the shirt at Lance’s head and grabbing a towel instead.

 

He was feeling the spirit.

 

He stood up, pulling Lance up with him by his hand and heading back to bed. He half hummed an old holiday tune that he heard on the streams.

 

“What was that?” Lance asked curiously.

 

Keith began to sing, grinning in response to Lance’s laugh as he slid under the sheets. “Feliz Navidad y próspero a **ñ** o felicidad.”

 

Keith waited a moment, staring at his alpha knowingly. He joined in on the next line as loud as he could, nearly in sync with Lance as he sang, “I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas!”

 

“I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas!” Sounded like a sleepy Hunk and Pidge joined in nearby. Keith winced slightly knowing it might wake his Shiro and Saul but kept singing. Hopefully they were too drop dead exhausted from the late night.

 

“I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas, from the bottom of my heart!” He thought that Shiro, Curtis and Clara joined in too. Coran was loudly questioning this human tradition.

 

And then it stopped as if they’ve had all choreographed the moment.

 

“Yeah, we still got it.” They heard Hunk address the household.

 

“No, you really don’t.” Clara yelled back reassuringly, making Keith and Lance laugh.

 

Keith couldn’t stop smiling. He snuggled close to Lance who gushed, “You’re so fucking cute, I’m gonna die from it.”

 

The family slept well into Christmas day except for Shiro who snuck into the kitchen and dove into a bowl of homemade chocolates set out by Lance to kickoff the 12 day Christmas countdown to Three Kings Day. He was wired for three days.

 

The next evening, everyone was hanging out at the house yet somehow Keith managed to fall asleep in the living room by himself. He was curled on his side on the oversized loveseat, elbow on the arm of the chair, chin sliding off his hand. Clara came in from showing her cycler to Hunk and wedged herself between Keith and the arm of the chair, waking him up. She sunk down until she bumped heads with him.

 

“His name is Quito Marcelo Perez. I’m really into him. I kinda just figured that out.”

 

She held her breath, waiting for his reaction.

 

Instead of bombarding her with questions, Keith smiled as he nudged her and said, “You sound like your dad.”

 

She hated that. “Ew.”

 

He laughed and hugged her, closing his eyes.

 

They both heard a click and looked up at Hunk who smiled at them after taking his candid snapshot.  The photo turned out a lot like the one Keith got from Hunk years ago when he was trying to convince Lance on Shiro.

 

Keith and his daughter, Clara.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Not sure if it’s normal but at least in my extended latino family, ‘mami’ and ‘papi’ is used forever when addressing our parents regardless of age. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. :)


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